Simulate the effects of different kinds of film, including black-and-white (with or without color filters). (PROVIA/STANDARD)Standard color reproduction. Suited to a wide range of subjects, from portraits to landscapes. (Velvia/VIVID)A high-contrast palette of saturated colors, suited to nature photos. (ASTIA/SOFT)Enhances the range of hues available for skin tones in portraits while preserving the bright blues of daylight skies. Recommended for outdoor portrait photography. (CLASSIC CHROME)Soft color and enhanced shadow contrast for a calm look. (PRO Neg. Hi)Offers slightly more contrast than (PRO Neg. Std). Recommended for outdoor portrait photography. (PRO Neg. Std)A soft-toned palette. The range of hues available for skin tones is enhanced, making this a good choice for studio portrait photography. (ACROS) *Take black-and-white photos with rich gradation and outstanding sharpness. Available with yellow (Ye), red (R), and green (G) filters. (MONOCHROME) *Take pictures in standard black and white. Available with yellow (Ye), red (R), and green (G) filters. (SEPIA)Take pictures in sepia.
* Filters deepen shades of gray corresponding to hues complementary to the selected color. The yellow (Ye) filter deepens purples and blues and the red (R) filter blues and greens. The green (G) filter deepens reds and browns, including skin tones, making it a good choice for portraits.
I recently got the opportunity to purchase, for a great price, the Fuji XF 10-24 f4 zoom lens (Version 1). Although it is one of the earlier releases by Fuji and does not come with weather sealing features, which does not really bother me, the XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS is equipped with excellent optical image stabilization that can work in conjunction with in-body image stabilization. I do most of my work hand held so this is a great thing.
Focal Length (35mm format equivalent): 10-24mm (15-36mm)
Lens Construction (Elements / Groups): 14 / 10
Special Lens Elements: Four Aspherical Elements, Three Extra-Low Dispersion Elements
Optical Image Stabilization: Yes
Focus Motor: Stepping Autofocus Motor
Angle of View: 110-61.2°
Number of Diaphragm Blades: 7 (Rounded)
Maximum Aperture: f/4
Minimum Aperture: f/22
Minimum Focus Distance: 9.45″ / 0.24m
Maximum Magnification: 0.16x
Weight: 410g
Size: 3.07 x 3.43″ (78.0 x 87mm)
Filter Size: 72mm
I have found the lens to be of excellent construction, as with all Fuji lenses, not too heavy for a fairly large lens with lots of glass, and a good metal lens mount. Similar to other high-quality Fujinon lenses, the build quality of the Fuji XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS is excellent. The lens barrel is made from a combination of tough plastic and metal. The focus and aperture rings, along with the rear mount and the front part of the lens (including the filter thread) are all metal, so the lens is built to last.
I paired up the lens with my Fujifilm XT3 and as the result above show it is a most capable lens giving sharp and contrasty shots straight from the camera in JPEG. Shooting with the lens at f8 to f10 everything, as expected. Its sharp – even at wide apertures. The bokeh is beautifully rendered. Color rendition is excellent and there are no noticeable issues with vignetting or light fall-off.
Fuji XT3 + XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS at f10 Fuji XT3 + XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS at f10
The zoom ring is quite large in size and has a rubber cover. When zooming in from 10mm to 24mm, the lens does not change in size – only the front element moves in a little.
There is a rear lens element that stays in place, which does a nice job of keeping dust from entering the lens when it is dismounted. There is no weather sealing. The front lens element is bulbous but reasonably small relative to the lens and filter can be attached. The petal-shaped lens hood is quite large in size. It is plastic and attaches securely to the lens without any wobbling.
Fuji XT3 + XF 10-24mm f4 R OIS at f10
If you have a Fujifilm XF camera – get this lens. For sharp landscapes or interiors its absolutely essential. I will be using it for street photography also. While you don’t quite get the depth of field of say, the 16mm f/1.4, you still get some depth of field. Sharpness and rendition are the key features of this lens and it delivers. Highly recommended.
I had this trip planned to Arizona several months ago – and due to unforeseen circumstances, had to reschedule twice. The plan was to fly to Flagstaff, visit Petrified Forest National Park, and then head north to Page, where we would stay for several days. High Desert around Page, Arizona I remember visiting Petrified Forest […]
So what do I carry when I go out shooting around town and why.
Whatever it is that I carry it needs to be lighweight but at the same time sturdy and able to produce great results many times under adverse conditions, heat and high humidity;
Up until fairly recently I used to carry lots of different cameras and lenses, mainly Nikon or Canon Pro range, with a good selection of lenses. Not going to go into that right now but needless to say they were a heavy group to carry around for any length of time.
Fujifilm X-E2 always in my bag.
Sensor: 16.3 MP (1.5x crop factor), 4.8µ pixel size, same as on X-E1.
Sensor Size: 23.6 x 15.6mm.
Resolution: 4896 x 3264.
Native ISO Sensitivity: 200-6,400.
Boost Low ISO Sensitivity: 100.
Boost High ISO Sensitivity: 12,800-25,600.
Sensor Cleaning System: Yes.
Its small, its lightweight and just gives great result for the kind of stuff I shoot, usually mounted with the XF 18mm f2 its 16MP sensor is excellent.
Almost always in the bag FUJIFILM XT3
This is one wonderful piece of machinery, high MP with great functionality and produces crisp and clean images even at very high ISO.
Even with its attached battery pack it is comfortable to carry and the extra power means I can go all day and not run out of power. I like to mate this with my most recently aquired lens the XF 10-24 f4 R IOS as the result can be superb and the wide angle can be challenging. The X-T3 brings with it a brand new sensor, improved autofocus and video performance that makes it competitive with Panasonic’s GH5, taking the X-T series from being a very good stills camera to one of the best stills/video hybrids on the market. This is a true professional camera, and it’s already NOT the camera that a Fuji user would buy if they wanted a truly portable, lightweight APS-C kit. It weighs in much heavier that the XE2 but it has much faster AF and battery life that IMO make up for the little extra weight. I also have a XT2 as a back up but that is not carried all the time.
Fuji X Pro2
Used probably as much as the XE2 but a little heavier to carry. The results from this camera mated usually with an XF 35mm f2 are no less than astounding. Easy to carry and easy to use once you have it set up the way you like it. As with all Fujifilm cameras the menus can be a little complex but once you understand how they work the cameras can be tweeked to how you like your images to come out if you use JPEG’s out of the box. (which I do).
Fujifilm X100 (original)
I have just rediscovered why I went over to Fuji when I bought this camera with its fixed 23mm f2 lens. Its just a superb piece of retro design. It has a smaller sensor but gives lovely feeling images of great quality. The X100 is still surprisingly usable, even 10 years later. Technically, the X100 is not a rangefinder camera. (but it looks like one) … For most practical purposes – other than manual focus – shooting with the X100 feels a lot like working with a Leica M9 or any other classic rangefinder camera. The 23mm f/2 lens – equivalent to a classic 35mm lens on a full frame camera – is convincingly sharp.
I only ever carry 2 cameras, which they will be I decide when I know what I may be shooting. I carry them in an old Lowepro bag that I have had for years. It keeps them safe and it does not look too much like an expensive camera bag as it is quite battered.
Wandering the wet markets of Phnom Penh,and watching the people go about their hard daily lives. is my not so secret obsession.
These people appear to have such hard lives, they work constantly and I have the privaledge of documents that time to the best of my ability.
Man, Woman and child all working and trying to make a decent life for themselves. Up early close late. Fresh fruit and Vegitables, live fish and sea food, freshly slaughtered pigs and live chickens all to be made ready for those who buy.
Phnom Penh city is a changing place with all the new and apparently empty, for the most part, high rise structures, offices, apartment, condos.
Little thought or planning as to where and how these new structures are placed and how they will fit into the local area, it all seems very higgle de piggledee. Palace next to hovel.
Buildings seem to be getting taller and taller, big and shiny but with IMO little charecter and I sometimes wonder about their foundations and safety. Fire could be a big problem considering the ill equipped fire services here. Towering Inferno, the movie, comes to mind.
Money, money, money is what its all about, getting the most revenue from the smallest amount of valuable land, going skywards is the only way. I does beg the question, how do you make money from and empty building that few can afford to rent.
Regardless of what you want to achieve with your photography, here are some sure fire ways to improve your skills without a degree.
Get familiar with your camera. …
Watch online tutorials. …
Hit the books (and online portfolios) …
Practice, practice and practice! …
Expand your network. …
Get a mentor or apprenticeship.
The basic essential is getting to know your camera and lenses and what they can do and what they cannot. I know it may seem stupid but read you MANUAL and find out the features that are within you camera. Always buy the best lenses you can afford.
The lenses you choose are probably more important that the camera at the stage. Zoom or prime it does not really matter they are all pretty darned good nowadays.
The main problems you will find when you first pick up are camera is not with the camera, or the lenses, but with you. Getting blurry or out of focus images due to camer shake, a thechnique problem. Learning how to hold and balance your camera is fundamentally essential, practice and things will improve.
Camera shake happens more frequently when using loger focal length lenses so until you have perfected you technique they are best avoided. Use Google and Utube to find someone to instruct you on this or watch the video below.
Hitting the books is another great idea, use you library or the internet to find free books or instructional videos that will help yu learn the ”basics”.
Getting out and practicing is essential to being able to put a good image together, set yourself some goals, go out and just take pictures of things you find interesting, make notes of what you do and refer back to them to try are see what you are doing right, or wrong. Not things like shutter speed and aperture, and even the weather, a windy day can have an effect.
Learn from others, maybe even consider joining a camera club. Consider mentoring and maybe even some courses at your local college, but most of all HAVE FUN, keep snapping.
I have spent most of my day recalibrating my monitors and checking the calibration of my printer (Epson P600). Made some good prints in both BW and Colour and decided what tweeks it needs to give me the picture I desire.
Getting the printer to give you exactly what you see on the screen is not always easy but I am happy with what I got. Its now pretty darned close. Used a whole pack of 25 A4 semi matte paper.
No colour to distract you, but you still have to make the picture interesting.
The content of the image is not affected by the importance of colour and has to be built on subtle shades of white, grey and black.
The subject is everything, and this is the most challenging part of working in BW.
When I make images I shoot both in colour and BW because this is possible now, but if the image is one that I think will work better in BW I have to think in a different way, and know-how the colours in the image with convert to BW.
(PROVIA/STANDARD)Standard color reproduction. Suited to a wide range of subjects, from portraits to landscapes.
(Velvia/VIVID)A high-contrast palette of saturated colors, suited to nature photos.
(ASTIA/SOFT)Enhances the range of hues available for skin tones in portraits while preserving the bright blues of daylight skies. Recommended for outdoor portrait photography.
(CLASSIC CHROME)Soft color and enhanced shadow contrast for a calm look.
(PRO Neg. Hi)Offers slightly more contrast than 
(PRO Neg. Std). Recommended for outdoor portrait photography.
(ACROS) *Take black-and-white photos with rich gradation and outstanding sharpness. Available with yellow (Ye), red (R), and green (G) filters.
(MONOCHROME) *Take pictures in standard black and white. Available with yellow (Ye), red (R), and green (G) filters.
(SEPIA)Take pictures in sepia.
a world without pictures is like coffee without cream and sugar, bitter 